The obligatory list-making predictions for 2016: 1. Governor Herbert will win easily. He has the highest approval rating of any elected official in the state and Utah continues to garner accolades for doing well on multiple fronts. 2. There will be a number of “campaign bills” during this legislative session, meaning bills being run to…

I attended the GOP convention last Saturday and along with 3785 of my fellow state delegates, enjoyed a pretty mild convention. Even Twitter was relatively quiet, although there were a few of us live-tweeting. In case you were running errands in the rain, here’s a quick recap. First this caveat: anyone who says it was…

Imagine you are a seasonal business owner, relying on 4 months of business to keep you, your family and your employees afloat for the entire year. Now imagine an outside organization decided to cripple you, hoping to score political points. You weren’t asked for your opinion nor given an opportunity to have input into the…

Earlier this week, Governor Gary Herbert finally ended speculation on his pick for Lt. Governor – and still managed to surprise most in the political arena. In fact, kudos have to go to the guv, his peeps and Spencer Cox’s peeps for doing SUCH a good job keeping things under wraps. Pretty fun. At the…

Three years ago, I wrote a piece about a smart up-and-comer named Derek Miller. At the time, Derek was the Deputy Director of GOED. Less than 2 weeks later, Derek was named the Chief of Staff for Governor Gary Herbert. Now, his name tops the list of those rumored to become the next Lt Governor…

Utah’s Lt. Governor Greg Bell announced today that he is resigning to return to the private sector. He has served the state of Utah for many years and now is focusing on the needs of his family. Everyone that I have talked to today has expressed the same things – “Greg Bell is my friend”…

On Wednesday, July 17th, the Utah legislature will meet for their regular interim session and now, for a special session. The new investigative committee that was formed on July 3rd requires new legislation to enable it to fulfill its duties. Those changes will be made via 2 bills that will be proposed, discussed and almost…

Do you ever get the feeling you just can’t get a straight story from the Attorney General’s office? Yeah. Me too. One day after Governor Gary Herbert said he would fire John Swallow if he could, Swallow finally went and talked to a couple of media outlets (studiously avoiding the Salt Lake Tribune, of course)…